Hellenization

Hellenization was the historical spread of Greek culture, religion, and language, particularly during the Hellenistic period of 323 BC-31 BC. Alexander the Great created a Macedonian empire which stretched from the Balkans and Egypt in the west to India and Central Asia in the east, and he appointed his generals as governors of the satrapies conquered from the Persian Empire. While Alexander sought to create a hybrid Greco-Persian culture to rule the empire, it was only after his death in 323 BC that Hellenization began to take place in earnest. Immigration from Greece and Macedonia led to the formation of Greek colonies in the eastern world, but the spread of Greek culture depended on the country: while Greek culture spread into inland Thrace, which was thoroughly Hellenized, Greek culture in Syria and Egypt failed to expand beyond the urban centers of Antioch and Alexandria, respectively; the countrysides were still highly populated by Syriac and Egyptian speakers. In Seleucid-ruled Judea, the Hellenized Jewish leaders established Greek education, and Hellenizers also adopted Jewish names and dress. The Seleucids also attempted to Hellenize the Jews by forbidding circumcision and prohibiting observance of the Sabbath, leading to the Maccabean Revolt of 167 BC. Hellenization ultimately contributed to the spread of Christianity, as Hellenized Jewish converts to Christianity were able to preach across the former Greek world in the Greek language, creating what is now Orthodox Christianity. Hellenization continued intermittently over the next several centuries; in 1909, the Greek government found that a third of Greece's villages had names not of Greek origin, and they were promptly renamed.